Enewsletter

Enewsletter • November 5, 2001

There is enough violence;
Go Vegetarian

Announcement & Request

Return of Greater Good!

Just in time for the holidays, Greater
Good is back up and running. Make any purchase via the Vegan Outreach
link, and more copies of Why Vegan? and Vegetarian Living are
printed. This has been our most successful affiliate program yet; if you're
looking for any piece of merchandise, look
here first!

Help Viva!USA get Whole Foods to Dump Meat
from Factory Farmed Ducks

In spring of 2000, Viva!USA conducted the first ever U.S. investigation of
duck farms. They videotaped and took pictures of duck farms scattered throughout
the country. Most of these farms were owned by the largest duck producer in
the country, Maple Leaf Farms (MLF). Viva! also received anonymously-taken footage
of Grimaud Farms (GF), a duck farm in Stockton, California. Viva! discovered
that both MLF and GF are factory farms.

Ducks normally spend much of their lives on water. The ducks in factory farms
live indoors in crowded sheds. Sometimes there are open windows for fresh air.
However, at some MLF, and at GF, there are no open windows. Injured, dying,
and dead ducks were found at most of the farms. Eye problems (most likely due
to a lack of water) were also found at most of the farms. The smell of excrement
is powerful (especially in the farms without windows). The ducks were often
dirty, sometimes covered in mud and excrement. At GF, the ducks had the ends
of their bills trimmed off.

After their investigations, Viva! approached some of the stores selling meat
from MLF and GF. Earth Fare, a small natural foods chain in North and South
Carolina, was selling GF. After being informed of the conditions there, they
promptly dropped meat from GF.

Trader Joe's, a specialty foods grocery store chain, was also selling GF and
MLF. At first, there was some confusion over Trader Joe's stance. Eventually,
Trader Joe's decided
to sell their current inventory of duck meat, but will not reorder unless they
find a duck farm certified by a "reputable and independent agency"
as being cruelty-free.

After Viva! approached Whole Foods, the largest "natural foods" chain
in the U.S. (which includes Fresh Fields and Bread & Circus), their corporate
office quickly decided to discontinue selling MLF. Some of their store managers
and regional managers decided to discontinue selling GF as well. However, at
the corporate level, Whole Foods has defended GF. I found this strange given
that, while being a larger farm, MLF appears to be better than GF in terms of
the animals' welfare.

There are many people who say, "As long as the animal was raised and killed
humanely, then I don't have a problem eating it." In fact, this seems to
be the sentiment of the average educated person living in the United States.
Although very few of these people actually make any effort to ensure the meat
they consume comes from an animal who was raised and killed humanely, but of
those who do, many assume that Whole Foods provides them with such meat.

We specifically seek out natural meats that come from animals raised on wholesome
grains and well water, instead of by-products, hormones and steroids. Many
of the animals are raised in a free-roaming setting.

Since, by their own words, some of their animals are not raised in a free-roaming
setting, it should not be a great surprise that Whole Foods is defending a factory
farm such as GF. In fact, Whole Foods and GF joined with poultry science researchers
at UC Davis who gave GF their stamp of approval. This should not make anyone
feel better as animal scientists at universities have been designing cruel confinement
systems for decades.

People should understand that Whole Foods supports factory farming and that
when they purchase meat at Whole Foods, they are not necessarily buying meat
from humanely raised animals. By joining Viva!'s campaign and sending Whole
Foods an email or letter asking them to drop Grimaud Farms, you can help encourage
Whole Foods to leave their support of factory farming behind. Please ask anyone
you know who is against factory farming, whether they are vegetarian or not,
to do the same.